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In recent years, making Christmas commercials has become a competition for the most appealing, or rather controversial commercial. What I watch are the rainbow-themed commercials. Christmas is of course a holy house, despite the commercialization and the removal of almost all religious aspects. So if there is a queer theme in it, the bigots start foaming snow at the mouth.

Boots and the Pronouns (2024)

This year, the honor for most ‘offensive’ goes to the British drugstore chain Boots. In it, Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh plays the lead role as Mrs. Claus. Take a look:

This clip became the target of conservative criticism for its casting (a black Mrs. Klaus, with Santa himself being a lazy white man) and the use of gender-inclusive pronouns. Mrs. Claus, because of her husband’s laziness, takes Christmas into her own hands and enlists her ‘elfluencers’ to help. At one point, she calls one of the elves ‘them’. Some of the characters are clearly gender diverse.

The work caused a divisive reaction on platforms like X and Facebook, resulting in the trending hashtag #BoycottBoots, and an accompanying petition from the far-right group Britain First (previously banned from Facebook for “inciting hatred and hostility”).

NB: another factor was the comment Andoh made a while ago about the British royal family (she called the balcony scene “terribly white”), but that’s besides the point.

‘She, a story by J&B’ (2022)

A lot more commotion was caused by Diageo’s whisky brand J&B in Spain. In ’22, they told the touching story of a grandfather preparing for the family dinner. I wrote about it earlier: Viral Christmas hate for loving J&B commercial.

Posten: When Harry met Santa (2021)

A lot of commotion also arose around the Christmas video of the Norwegian mail carrier Posten. It shows you the ‘real’ story of Santa Claus (and they should know that, since they’re so close to the North Pole, right?). Controversy abounds – especially in the United States – because how dare they paint Santa in a pink light?!

The ad commemorates 50 years since homosexuality was decriminalized in the country. Speaking to LGBTQ Nation, Marketing Director Monica Solberg said: “Posten is an inclusive and diverse workplace, and we wanted to celebrate the 50th anniversary with this beautiful love story.”

I say: well done!

Douglas, a gift can mean so much more (2020)

A striking video was also made in Germany by Douglas in 2020. This was part of the series ‘A gift can mean so much more’. Locker room scenes!

Douglas wanted to keep the discussion open, so comments were allowed: a veritable avalanche of negativity flooded the channel. From “disgusting” to “communist propaganda” (which is nonsense in every way, especially considering the situation in Russia). They felt it necessary to add the following statement:

“Douglas stands for diversity and positions itself as a democratic and inclusive brand. As one of the leading premium beauty retailers in Europe, we live for equal treatment, tolerance and equal opportunities and do not accept any discrimination. We want to encourage our customers to express their individuality and live their own beauty – regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, culture or sexual orientation. This is also reflected in our Christmas campaign: it tells stories of very different people, who care for their loved ones and who are beautiful in their own way.”

Kudos to Douglas!

In the same series they also had the ‘Lesbian Kiss’. It scored very well on my YouTube channel with 53,000 viewers. That word (lesbian) apparently attracts a lot of attention. There are now 9 relevant videos from the German retailer in my archive, so they are doing well.

And then…

BBC One had a nice clip in 2016 with a true gay kiss. The prize for the most bizarre queer-themed Christmas video goes to British retailer Robert Dyas: ‘We’re Robert Dyas and we’re gay. And straight. And bi’ (2015). Well-intentioned, but what a clumsy execution.

Research

With all the fuss, is it worth including your diversity in your Christmas campaigns? Or does Oscar W’s aphorism apply: “There’s only one thing worse than being talked about: not being talked about”?

A study by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) from earlier this year found that ‘Marketing the Rainbow’ has a positive impact on brand perception (97%) and increased brand loyalty (83%). This is largely thanks to Millennials and Gen Z, who really appreciate this. An impressive 93% of marketers say it’s important to represent the LGBT+ community in their advertising—up from 79% in 2021. Yet only 55% of brands have actively done so or engaged the community in their work, while 39% feared potential consumer backlash if they did so. Unfortunately, those fears are not unfounded.

The message is clear: There is both a need and an opportunity for deeper inclusion strategies for LGBT+ consumers, says Bob Liodice, CEO of the ANA.

NB: This research was conducted before the full impact of the Bud Light drama was visible, and before the anti-woke trend took hold. I wonder what a new study would reveal… I agree with the ANA’s conclusions: don’t hesitate on rainbow marketing!

Alfred Verhoeven is a marketer and is in the final phase of his PhD research Marketing the Rainbow.
He previously wrote for ILOVEGAY about From Representation To Respect, Wicked and the 1 Million Moms, The Musk Effect, Pride Month, The Oldest Rainbows, The Dutch Rainbows, The Belgian Rainbows, The Chinese Rainbows, Super Bowl Ads: What Would Jesus Do?, Get woke, go broke, Spain has 6.8 billion reasons to love rainbow tourists, Everyone’s gay in Amsterdam, Gay Capital, The Ideal Traveler, Abercrombie & Fitch : The Rise & The Fall, Barbiemania, Bud Light and the 4 bln dollar woman, Pronouns, About those rainbows, Alphabet soup, M&M’s and the lesbian invasion, The Men from Atlantis, 5 Bizarre LGBT Videos, TRANSparency, Transgender persons as a target group, 5 videos that went viral, Cultural sensitivities and social involvement in marketing, and 4 reasons to practice diversity.